HS Content Expectations Approved

LANSING – The State Board of Education has approved curriculum content expectations for Math and English language arts (ELA) that all high school students should know and understand.

The approval of these content expectations will help school districts in Michigan begin designing their curriculums to align with the rigorous state high school graduation requirements passed by the state Legislature and supported by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm.

These high school content expectations underwent a strenuous university and national review process, which measured them against national high school curriculum standards and course content that is assessed on large-scale national tests. Michigan’s Math and ELA curriculum standards were deemed as going beyond the “large-scale assessable content” and includes expanded learning that can be assessed in the classroom in a variety of ways.

“This shows that we are serious in our push for rigor,” said State Board of Education Vice President John C. Austin. “It’s a good thing to be viewed nationally as being ‘out front’ on content.”

The goal of the ELA content expectations is to give all learners personal, social, occupational, and civic literacy. State Board members expressed assurance that the ELA content expectations should focus on learning informational text and workplace writing, but also encourage creativity.

“I’m pleased that we are going beyond what can be assessed on a test – by also stressing the idea of creativity,” said State Board President Kathleen N. Straus. “There is so much emphasis on standardized testing that we must not lose sight of our creativity. We can’t lose that.”

The high school Math and ELA content expectations will be shared with local educators and professional organizations in April and May for an in-depth review. The official dissemination of the high school content expectations will be in August.

(Information taken from a MDE press release written by Martin Ackley)